“I didn’t care if it was night or day; for me it was eternally night.” So said spelunker Veronique LeGuen after emerging from a cave in southern France in which she had spent 130 days. She is a scientist studying the effect of total isolation on the human body.
What was her first desire after leaving the cave? “I wanted very badly to smell the flowers of the mountains,” she said.
Leaving the cavern, in a small span of time Veronique had experienced two extremes: the darkness of the cave and the beautiful mountains, which were full of light and the fragrance of flowers. When each of us dies, we shall experience a tremendous change in a short span of time. For the believer who is trusting in Christ, leaving this world and entering the next will be like leaving a cave and entering bright sunshine.
Instead of this earth, which bears the scars of sin and strife, his home will be with Christ where he has an inheritance which is incorruptible, undefiled and “fadeth not away.” The fragrance of Christ fills every nook and cranny, and the Lord Himself fills the place with light. “The glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb [the Lord Jesus Christ] is the light thereof” (Rev. 21:2323And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. (Revelation 21:23)).
Are you absolutely certain you will spend eternity with Christ in heaven? You can be, for “if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom. 10:99That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans 10:9)).
We do not deserve salvation. At first this might be hard to accept, for we tend to place so much importance on who we are and what we have done. But Christ’s death and suffering show us what we truly are-ruined sinners going hopelessly towards destruction.
“Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood” (Rev. 1:55And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, (Revelation 1:5)) will be the theme song of those in heaven. Notice there is not one hint in this song about someone deserving to be there because of their own goodness or their own works. The song is all about Christ. This is the secret of being completely sure of our salvation knowing that it all depends on the Lord Jesus and the work He did on Calvary’s cross.
BUT “eternally night” describes the condition of those who die without ever having come to Christ for salvation. What will it be to pass suddenly from this world where “the light is sweet and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun” (Ecclesiastes 11:77Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun: (Ecclesiastes 11:7)) into “outer darkness” where “there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Luke 13:2828There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. (Luke 13:28)).
“They shall never see light,” the Bible says in Psa. 49:1919He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light. (Psalm 49:19). “Never.” That means eternally—not for 130 days, not for 70 years, the average lifetime of a man, but for eternity-time without end.
You can live without God-you can die without Christ-but if you do, you can never escape hell. The serious consideration of what those will suffer in the regions where it is truly “eternally night” should lead each one to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ who alone is able to save.